A student has been found guilty of attacking two female police officers during a large violent altercation at Manchester Airport.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, was charged with assaulting Greater Manchester Police officers during the disturbance on July 23 last year, with mobile phone footage of the incident going viral on social media.
Following a three-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Amaaz was convicted of assaulting PC Lydia Ward causing actual bodily harm, and of assaulting emergency worker PC Ellie Cook.
After 10 hours of deliberation, the jury was unable to reach verdicts on allegations that Amaaz and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, also assaulted PC Zachary Marsden, causing actual bodily harm. The Crown Prosecution Service is now seeking a retrial on those counts.
Amaaz was also found guilty of an earlier assault on a man, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at a Starbucks café in the airport’s arrivals area earlier that day.
The court heard that PCs Marsden, Ward and Cook entered Manchester airport car park’s pay station area following reports that a male, fitting Amaaz’s description, had head-butted a member of the public.
Prosecutors said Amaaz resisted arrest after being grabbed from behind at a car park ticket machine, sparking the violent incident.
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He was seen punching PC Ward in the face, breaking her nose and knocking her to the ground, as well as knocking PC Cook over. It was alleged that he punched PC Marsden from behind and held onto him before PC Cook discharged a taser.
Footage shown in court also captured PC Marsden kicking and stamping on Amaaz as he lay on the ground.
Both defendants from Rochdale claimed they had acted in lawful self-defence or in defence of one another.
Giving evidence, Amaaz said he feared the “lunatic” male officer would “batter him to death,” while Amaad told the court he believed he was under attack.
The defence argued that the officers used “unlawful force” for grabbing Amaaz from behind without identifying themselves.
CCTV footage of the officers being assaulted was shown to jurors during the trial.
The court heard PC Ward suffered a broken nose during the incident and recalled “falling on the floor and everything went black” after receiving a “really forceful” blow to the face.
She told the court: “As I came round, all I could feel was blood pouring out of my nose. I was just thinking he has done something to my nose, face area.. I didn’t know what had happened. I was terrified, to be honest. I was absolutely terrified. I had never experienced that level of violence towards me in my life.”
Mike Peake, chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Federation, said Amaaz’s conviction reflected “the worst side of police work our officers are faced with.”
He said: “Police officers in Manchester work in a difficult, dangerous, and dynamic world where there is no such thing as a routine incident. They deserve support in that work from the public and politicians.
“Thirty-five officers are assaulted in Greater Manchester Police every week. We are bloodied and we are bruised. We have been supporting the officers involved in the Manchester Airport incident since it occurred, and as a federation we will continue to do so.”
